


Sound Check

by quentinknockout



Series: Suits and Shipyards [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 14:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3981349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quentinknockout/pseuds/quentinknockout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Davos reflects sweetly on the six years he's spent with the unromantic Stannis. But Stannis may surprise him yet. Modern City AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sound Check

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vana/gifts), [dubbledore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dubbledore/gifts).



> A rewritten version of some of the Modern AU verse I have been sending to Vana on Tumblr. As requested. Thanks for everyone's kindness on Tumblr from this little fandom! :)

It was their sixth anniversary.  
Six years. Davos could hardly believe it. He knew Stannis was likely to forget, but really, he didn’t mind. Stannis wasn’t one for grand romantic gestures, the most romantic he got was half-price tickets to the football. But Davos had never expected grand romantic gestures, he’d known not to expect them from the moment they met. 

He remembered that night they met well. It was Sal’s stag night, his second marriage, and he, Davos and others had spent the Saturday afternoon emptying pints in the beer garden at the Northern Hotel. There was a great horde of them, fifteen dockworkers, hard drinkers, prepared to let loose, and Sal wasn’t letting anyone get away early. At about ten o’clock there’d been a request that should be some ‘fuckin’ entertainment’, and a petition was made to head to that awful karaoke bar, the old Chinese food place with overpriced mixer drinks and a big dancefloor. They’d wandered in, and then the group of suits had wandered in at the same time, led by big and brash Robert, red in the face with expensive wine.  
It could’ve been a class divide but it wasn’t, as Sal and Robert roared with laughter together and demanded a karaoke challenge. The floor was dirty and the glasses were getting emptier and emptier, but for some reason Davos didn’t feel as drunk as the rest.  
And then he’d seen him, sitting at the table, having hung back from the round of introductions. Davos had never seen someone look so pained by their sobriety, a crash of boredom and haughty beauty. He’d swallowed hard, reminding himself that even if he didn’t feel that drunk, he still clearly was. But the man in the suit was gorgeous.  
He’d spent twenty minutes trying not to look at him, but when Ned and Sal joined forces to butcher Marvin Gaye, Davos glanced over to see Stannis looking at him with the ghost of a smile. There was amusement glittering in his eyes.  
Davos had thought, well, now or never, and he pulled up a chair, leaning in to talk against the din.  
‘I’m Davos.’  
‘Stannis.’ His nose had wrinkled. ‘The drunkest one is my brother. It’s his birthday. The second drunkest one is my brother too.’  
‘Well,’ Davos chuckled. ‘What a nice family you have.’  
Stannis looked as though such a suggestion was physically painful, so he turned the subject. ‘Why does it smell like onions in here?’ That was it. His conversation starter.  
‘Probably me. I love onions,’ Davos joked.  
‘That’s unfortunate.’ Stannis had taken a sip of his mineral water. Davos couldn’t tell if he was taking the piss or not.  
They’d chatted a long while, mostly on Davos’s end, who soon thought it was a bit of a lost cause. There wasn’t much likelihood of Stannis being gay. But god, he was lovely to look at, and Davos could appreciate that. And there was something of him Davos really liked, a dark undercurrent of humour, the sense of a good heart.

When the karaoke bar kicked them out at 2am, and Sal and the others had staggered for home, Stannis had loaded his two brothers and Ned into his car outside with Davos’s help.  
‘Insufferable,’ he sniffed, but he’d suddenly looked up sharply at Davos, who was standing well back with his hands tucked in his jeans, unsure what move to make.  
‘I suppose you want my number, then.’  
Davos was stunned by the directness. ‘Huh?’  
‘Well,’ Stannis seemed to vacillate, awkwardly, unsure if he’d made the wrong move. ‘Isn’t that what people do? I enjoyed talking to you.’  
‘You didn’t feckin’ seem like you did.’ Davos wanted to laugh, but Stannis’s serious expression stopped him, and he stumbled. ‘Oh…er… of course! Yeah, I’d like that.’  
Stannis’s face relaxed. ‘I don’t like films much.’ He replied shortly, tapping his number into Davos’s phone.

‘Just dinner is fine, too,’ Davos couldn’t believe it.

And that been how it had got started. The insurance man and the docker, who thought it might only last a couple of dates and a few quick fucks, but they kept going out. They liked each other, and Davos still remembered his heart skipping when Stannis put a hand on the inside of his arm as they were walking on the third date. 

Then six months later Davos caught his left hand in some rigging while working down at the docks, and Stannis had come straight to the hospital from the office, and the white horror on his face had frightened Davos more than the lost fingers. That was when he knew. That they both knew. And five and a half years later, he still knew he loved him. Everything about him.  
So that was why Davos didn’t care if Stannis had forgotten their anniversary. The minute he got home he was going to drag him out anyway, even if it was just for fish and chips by the pier. He’d iron Stannis’s good shirt for him and they could go have a drink and walk home, hand in hand. That was all he wanted. He didn’t ask for much. Just Stannis.  
And so, thinking of that, Davos went to the wardrobe to drag out the shirt he liked so much. He found it pressed within one of Stannis’s winter coats. The green tie was also tucked in the pocket, so he tugged it, sharply, and something clunked out onto the floor with a thud.  
Davos scooped it up in his good hand, a small, square box. Curious, he popped it open. Inside, was a silver ring, plain and smooth and beautiful. On the inside was inscribed a very small letter, D.  
He must have stared at it for a while before he heard the crash of the door. There was the thud of something on the table. Footsteps.  
‘Davos, are you home?’  
It was too late to put it back, too obvious, he was caught. Stannis walked in, his bright expression quickly fading when his eyes fell on Davos and the ring. 

He stared for a moment. ‘Oh.’  
Davos was lost for words. ‘I…’  
‘You found it.’  
‘I wanted to iron your shirt.’  
‘Well,’ Stannis tried, bravely, but Davos recognised the slight tremor of his voice. ‘What do you think?’  
‘Is it for me?’  
‘You’ll have to wear it on your right hand…I couldn’t-‘  
‘Are you trying to ask me something, Stannis Baratheon?’ Davos thought his heart might burst.  
‘I was supposed to ask you tonight. At dinner.’  
‘We have dinner plans?’  
‘Well, do you- would you like to… what do you think of getting married? Is it a yes?’  
‘Of course it’s a yes. You stupid bastard.’ He threw his arms around him and kissed him, hard.  
‘Please don’t make us late for dinner,’ Stannis murmured, finally. ‘I made reservations.’  
‘God, you’re an absolute idiot.’


End file.
